CHICAGO — Aaron Judge noticed his teammates dancing in the bullpen as he rounded first base, and he got quite the reception when he stepped on home plate.
The New York Yankees slugger not only hit his 300th career home run, but he also reached that milestone faster than any other player, doing so in a 10-2 win over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” Judge said. “Like I said a few days ago, we were hoping it would come with a win and it came with a big win for us. We were a little down and not doing very well, but it came in a big moment and it was exciting.”
Judge hit a three-run single in the eighth inning to set the record in his 955th game and 3,431st at-bat. The six-time All-Star and 2022 American League MVP hit Chad Kuhl’s 3-0 up-and-in sinker over the White Sox’s left-hand relievers for his major league-leading 43rd homer.
When the ball cleared the wall, Yankees players erupted in celebration, jumping up and down, raising their arms and pounding the dugout fence. After the game, DJ LeMahieu and Austin Wells doused Judge with buckets of water.
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“It means a lot,” Judge said. “They work hard with me every day. I know how hard they work. They know what I’m doing. That was pretty special.”
Ralph Kiner reached 300 home runs in his 1,087th game, while Babe Ruth did so in his 3,831st at-bat.
“These are guys who have done a lot of great things in baseball,” Judge said. “If you mention a bunch of their names to people who don’t know baseball, they know who they are. They’re a special group.”
With Chicago trailing 6-2, interim manager Grady Sizemore intentionally walked Juan Soto to hit Judge, who hadn’t homered in a 3-0 inning since 2021, making it three homers of his career.
“I was pissed about the intentional walk, so that was my motivation,” Judge said. “Usually if it’s 3-0, you take the pitch, watch it and pass it to the next pitcher. But in that situation, if they don’t want to pitch to you, you’ve got to go through with it.”
Fewest games to 300 career home runs*
Player Games Played Aaron Judge 955 Ralph Kiner 1,087 Ryan Howard 1,093 Juan Gonzalez 1,096 *MLB History – ESPN Stats & Info
Judge leads the major leagues with 14 intentional walks. Soto was intentionally walked for the first time this season after hitting three home runs on Tuesday and another in the first inning on Wednesday.
“It puts you off your game, but I understand why he did it,” Judge said. “The way Juan swings the bat, the four homers he’s hit in this series, hitting him all over the park, I would walk him in that situation, too.”
Sizemore made the decision five games into his tenure as manager after succeeding Pedro Grifol, and said Soto’s four home runs were the deciding factor.
“You pick your poison. I’m not trying to attack Judge. The bases are open,” Sizemore said. “There’s no solution or easy way out of this, but Judge is doing well, but Soto is definitely the better hitter of the two.”
It was just the second time in Judge’s career that the batter before him was intentionally walked — the other was on Aug. 31, 2016, when Judge was a rookie, when Chase Headley was intentionally walked in the 13th inning at Kansas City.
Judge has hit an American League record 62 home runs and was named the 2022 American League MVP while leading the major leagues with a .333 batting average and 110 RBI. His 300th home run comes eight years and one day after Judge hit a home run in his first major league at-bat.
“It obviously caught us off guard,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the intentional walk, “but Aaron was poised to have a great at-bat.”
“At 3-0, I think he stretched the zone a little too much,” the manager joked.
Judge’s home run was 361 feet, the second-shortest this season behind his 339-footer on May 19. It probably wouldn’t have been a home run at Yankee Stadium.
Judge became the seventh player in Yankees history to hit 300 home runs, joining Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Alex Rodriguez.
It took Judge 671 games to reach 200 career home runs, but only 284 games to go from 200 to 300.
Judge became the 162nd player in baseball history to hit 300 home runs, ranking 13th among active players.
ESPN Stats & Information, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
